June 6, 2010

Carnival has moved on, but the memories remain

For the past few days, it's been a cacaphony of sound: shrieks of fear mixed with cries of pleasure. Mechanical sounds: the clicking, cranking, whooshing of big machines. Child sounds: tears of denial, whining, happy sounds.

Meanwhile, the colors of the carnival were everywhere -- thousands of lights at night, bright enamel colors of midway rides everywhere you looked -- left, right, straight up in the air. With names like Pharoh's Fury, Zero Gravity, Bumble Bee Bop, Freak Out and Cliff Hanger. Rides that sometimes lasted barely 90 seconds -- yes, we're talking about you, Freak Out -- but that was long enough.

And now it's gone. The carnival rides and all that oh-so-bad-for-you, but-oh-so-delicious food (cotton candy, candy apples, hot dogs, pizza, soda) have moved on to Brookfield, or somewhere else. (Along with the Midway "games" in which the truly skillful or very lucky have a chance to win a useless prize worth less than the entry price.) But have no fear; other carnivals will take its place, if not at Regency Mall, then at one of the myriad church festivals. The fun of summer usually lasts all summer, and this is just the beginning.

Check our Kiosk for lots more fun. And in the meantime, enjoy the pictures from Regency Mall's now-departed carnival. And ask yourself, if that had been you swinging near the top of Pharoh's Fury, would you have been text-messaging?